


in dreams alone, we can be together always

by Rachaelizame



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 06:04:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16423823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachaelizame/pseuds/Rachaelizame
Summary: It was a normal mission, until they crashed the ship. But nothing about Obi-Wan has been normal in these past few weeks, and this night is no different.





	in dreams alone, we can be together always

**Author's Note:**

> Title quote is my own, based on an A. A. Milne quote that was too long to use.
> 
> I’ve been working on this for a while and only just had the motivation to finish it tonight.

Anakin grinned at Ahsoka across the rock they were using as a table. They’d been holed up in a cave the past day, after their ship crashed. They’d been making their way to civilization when an acid storm came out of nowhere and they’d taken refuge in a cave.

None of them were particularly worried. People knew where they were and they'd be found soon enough. Ahsoka and Anakin were currently playing cards while Obi-Wan slept so he would be ready to take the next shift of wakefulness. They weren’t going to be stupid and leave no one on watch, after all.

At a slight disturbance, so slight Anakin couldn’t tell if it was a warning from the Force or just a tiny noise or movement he detected, Anakin turned toward his master slightly. Obi-Wan was having a nightmare.

It wasn’t that he was thrashing in his bedroll, just moving ever so slightly. It wasn’t that he was whimpering in his sleep, though there were soft noises escaping his mouth. It wasn’t that he was projecting, but it wouldn’t take much to reach into his mind, particularly for him and Ahsoka.

But Anakin knew something was wrong.

And a moment after that realization hit, the nightmare hit in earnest, and then Obi-Wan was muttering, and was writhing, and his shields still hadn’t dropped, not exactly, but his emotions- his fear- flitted around the room, just enough to add a slight edge of anticipation to Anakin’s mind, though he knew, for Obi-Wan to be reacting like this, he had to be feeling it more intensely than that.

Ahsoka was biting her lip, uncertain, and Anakin knew she’d noticed too, and didn’t know what to do. Obi-Wan had been acting weird lately, ever since a few weeks back. He’d woken from unconsciousness after a mission and seemed to not even know where he was. He’d been startled when he saw Anakin and Ahsoka after waking, and by the actions of the clones, and Ahsoka, and Anakin, repeatedly, though he’d tried not to let on.

Besides, Obi-Wan having nightmares wasn’t exactly common. Or rather, Anakin didn’t know how common it was, because Obi-Wan always kept that quiet and to himself.

“Wake him?” Anakin suggested. “I think that’s what you’re supposed to do, right?”

“I mean, I don’t know. I didn’t think you were supposed to wake humans with nightmares! Or was that sleepwalkers?” Ahsoka asked.

A moment passed and then the fear in the room ratcheted up several notches before collapsing into sudden, intense grief. Obi-Wan’s shields had only dropped completely for a second, but it was enough to send Anakin rushing to his side, Ahsoka fast on his heels.

As he ran, Anakin reached out tentatively, into Obi-Wan’s mind, trying to discover where the sudden emotion was coming from, what terror Obi-Wan’s mind had conjured for him to be feeling like that.

Obi-Wan’s mind automatically bent to Anakin. They had never needed much in the way of permission to breach the other’s mind unless one was really trying to hide.

The image that flashed through Anakin’s mind broke his heart, just a bit.

It was the Duchess Satine, collapsed on the ground, only a few feet away from Obi-Wan, but, in the way of dreams, the dreamer was unable to make up that ground. She was collapsed with a lightsaber wound in her chest, and Anakin heard her voice rasping words of love in the dreamer’s mind.

Anakin probably should have left his master’s mind after that, he knew the problem was no vision, nothing they needed to immediately prepare for, and he should have left Obi-Wan his privacy.

But the scene before his mind’s eye was such that he had trouble removing himself from it. Just as he was about to leave it alone, the dreamer- and here Anakin had to remind himself that the dreamer was Obi-Wan, because he wouldn’t have thought this part possible without seeing it- the dreamer looked up, caught sight of- was that Darth Maul?- and a surge of raw anger rushed through Anakin. And, to his shock, it wasn’t his own.

Anakin slowed, faltered in surprise, and Ahsoka kept going and Anakin knew that she hadn’t felt it. His mind reeled, as much as it could while inside the mind of another, but just as the anger was reaching a peak, the dreamer looked back at the dying woman before him, and the anger fizzled into that complete grief of before, but now, having felt it, Anakin could sense the anger buried underneath. It wasn’t overpowering, no, but it was there, and it was tempting. Deniable, but tempting nonetheless, like being told you can do anything except pressing that button, and immediately desiring to push the button.

But no, that metaphor was no good. Anakin had never been good at metaphors. It wasn’t tempting solely because it was forbidden, but because you knew that pressing the button would give you what you desired second most in the universe right now- a distraction from pain.

Anakin finally withdrew himself, and found that he’d been standing beside Obi-Wan’s bedroll for what had to be several minutes at this point. Ahsoka was looking back and forth between them, deferring to him for what to do.

Anakin reached for Obi-Wan immediately, not wanting to put him through this any longer.

Obi-Wan startled badly at the touch, and woke without much more prompting. He looked up at Anakin and Ahsoka, blearily, sleep clinging to his form, though Anakin knew that at the slightest hint on their faces, he would be up in an instant, prepared to take action.

And when his eyes reached Anakin, that’s exactly what he did, until Ahsoka reached out and pressed him back into the bedroll.

“No Master Obi-Wan. It’s nothing. You were having a... bad dream. So we woke you up.” 

Obi-Wan’s expression indicated he was digging into his memory for what the dream had been on, and Anakin knew from the mingled relief and embarrassment on his face the moment he remembered.

“Ah. Thank you, Ahsoka, Anakin. Unless there is anything more you need, I should get back to sleep. You should continue your game. I wouldn’t want to keep you from it.”

Anakin and Ahsoka dutifully headed back to the table, after a brief pleasant-dream-wishing. In other times, Anakin might have pressed for Obi-Wan to join them for a bit, rather than invite the nightmare back by resuming sleeping, but they really did need to ration their shifts well, and also, he wasn’t quite sure how to behave right now, and knew adding in Obi-Wan’s presence would make it worse.

As they arrived back at the rock/table, Ahsoka muttered, seemingly to herself, wondering what he’d dreamed about.

“Duchess Satine.” Anakin whispered back, without thinking. Ahsoka’s eyes grew wide.

“No! Really? He was- really upset about it. Are you sure?”

“Yeah, Snips. I’m sure.” And now, saying it aloud, it made perfect sense to Anakin. He’d known Obi-Wan cared deeply for the Duchess, and it made sense that he might worry about her occasionally.

Force knew, Anakin had nightmares about Padme’s death often enough, regardless of any sense they made in the waking life. And that dream- it had been nonsensical. The endless running for one, and Darth Maul- long dead- being the villain for two. But from another angle it followed. Darth Maul had struck the greatest emotional blow of Obi-Wan’s life in killing Qui-Gon. Anakin wasn’t surprised to find him being a recurring theme in Obi-Wan’s nightmares.

But the fact of those nightmares was what ruined Anakin’s peace of mind. Anakin had guessed that Obi-Wan cared for Satine, but to actually feel the confirmation of it, in the moment of its loss- it was a surprise.

Anakin reached for the cards on the table, sending Ahsoka a reassuring smile as he began to shuffle, hoping to ease at least his Padawan’s mind, even if his still roiled in shock.

And something else, something Anakin was not yet ready to touch with a ten foot pole, was that brief moment of anger he’d felt. The temptation of it. The drive to destroy Maul, because he’d destroyed the things Obi-Wan loved best.

And the way it had been extinguished. Anakin wasn’t sure if he was proud of Obi-Wan for not reacting in anger, even just in a dream, exasperated because even in dreams Obi-Wan needs must be everything Anakin is not… or shame, because Obi-Wan is always everything Anakin can never manage to be, even in this moment of similitude.

And Anakin dealt.

**Author's Note:**

> So, in my mind, this is a time travel fix it story, but only a brief moment of it. Post ROTS Obi-Wan probably had a lot of nightmares, and going back in time only made them worse. I don’t think team A squared (Anakin and Ahsoka) know he’s traveled in time at this point though.


End file.
